Guide to contributing to the wiki: Difference between revisions

== Foreword ==

Welcome to the guide for contributing to the Yogstation Wiki - we're happy to have you here. As a first order of business, in order to edit pages on this Wiki, a Yogstation Wiki account is '''required'''. These can be obtained by joining the Yogstation Discord at https://discord.gg/0keg6hQH05Ha8OfO, and making a request in the #Wiki-and-Mentor channel; Wiki staffers with the relevant permissions would be glad to assist in getting an account set up for you (a list of all active Wiki team members can be found [[Wiki_Team|here]]. We welcome all contributors and assume good faith for all edits made, so there are very few protected pages, but Wiki Administrators do patrol changelogs to attempt to combat bad faith attacks or changes, so please be mindful of what you are doing and be ready to justify it if it raises a red flag. Once you've received your account, don't be afraid to jump in and start correcting and adding to pages.

There are a few concepts that drive Wiki functionality, and this guide will attempt to touch on the very basics that you'll need to get in and get going. If you have questions regarding more advanced topics, you can ask in the above mentioned #Wiki-and-Mentor channel of the Yogstation Discord, and Wiki staff will try to help you as they can.

=== [[Wikicode]] ===

Wikicode is the syntax used by all Wikipedias, including this one. If you don't know it and are prepared to learn, you can read the internal wikicode page [[Wikicode|here]], or read the Wikipedia page about it [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_markup here]. It is daunting at first, but once learned the processes become more intuitive, much like coding, which in some regard it is.

New content is constantly being added to Space Station 13, which requires new tutorials and guides and information. Before you begin a new page, '''please search thoroughly and completely for an existing or similar page to avoid creating duplicate guides or pages'''. If you can't find it or anything related to it, you are clear to start a page yourself! This can be done simply by plugging in the title of the page you would like to create in the Search Bar in the top right - if nothing is found in the Wiki databanks, you will be prompted to create a new page under that title; this will generate a blank page that you can begin formatting and filling in with your information. It is highly recommended that you first assess the type of page you are trying to make, i.e. is it a new guide? is it a new job? and then navigate to pages that exist within that same familial typing and copy the formatting over to your new page. This will save you a lot of work in the end, as well as standardize the formatting across your new page and existing ones of the same type.

A list of pages which need revisions can be found [[:Category:Needs revision|here]]. Revision flags on Jobs or Guides tend to take highest priority, as these are the pages utilized the most by Wiki visitors.

 

'''Additionally, if you are revising a page, PLEASE put a summary in the Summary section of your editing window towards the bottom of the page. This will help Wiki Administrators immensely when patrolling new page edits.'''

If you have image files to attach, you can upload them via the Upload File link on the left toolbar (also accessed by Alt-Shift-U keyboard command), and then add them to the page they're intended for.  

For item images, it is appreciated if the image has a blank background and is in the .gif or .png format.

For most ingame assets, the easiest way to add images of them is to download the [[Downloading the source code#Downloading|source code]], open the icons .dmi files and export images as .gif's or .png's from there.

=== Marking for revision and deletion ===

If a page is '''out of date''' or doesn't have a reason for existing, add one of the following tags to the top of the page ('''TO COPY THESE TAGS, PLEASE VIEW THE SOURCE CODE OF THIS PAGE'''):

{{Needs revision

|reason= REASON}}

{| width="60%" bgcolor="#ff6666" align="center"

|align="center"|[[File:Dead.png]] <font size='4'>'''THIS PAGE HAS BEEN MARKED FOR DELETION'''</font> [[File:Dead.png]]

|align="center"|For the following reason: ''{{{1|REASON}}}''. Tagged by: {{{2|NAME}}}[[Category:candidate for deletion|{{FULLPAGENAME}}]]

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Some pages are intended to be entertaining, but when writing guides, please remember that a new player might not realize that something is a joke or sarcasm and will instead take it at face value. For more practical guides, less jokes are better. Where it is more discretionary, please think about where jokes fit and where they don't, and if you are updating someone else's joke, think whether yours is ''actually funnier''.

Always keep in mind what the guide pages on this Wiki are for. They are so new players can quickly glean relevant information about the role they have chosen, or been chosen for, or about mechanics of the game on the whole.

'''A good guide generally consists of:'''

* A brief introduction or overview of what the guide is going to be describing or accomplishing.

* A detailed run down of the various topics mentioned above, with sectioning and sub-sectioning for clarity and ease of access.

* Images and visual information where needed and appropriate.

* Reference links or further reading material to give a grasp of content adjacent or connected to the topic at hand - for example, the Cook job page has links to the Guide to Food and Guide to Drinks, as these are relevant.

* A conclusion which ties together all the above information and seeks to reiterate the material covered prior.

'''Extra tips:'''

* Keep your facts correct and as the primary focus.

* If you are writing a basic guide, '''keep it basic''', and put the advanced topics on a separate page.

* Make use of formatting, tables, white space, headings, and other methods to draw attention and give direction to critical points of information

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